[Music] you my name is Debbie McNeil and I'm a member of the League of Women Voters Edina I am the moderator for tonight's Hopkins school board candidate forum I welcome you all on behalf of the League of Women Voters Minnetonka Eden Prairie Hopkins the League of Women Voters is a volunteer nonpartisan political organization which encourages informed and active participation in government it works to increase understanding of major public policy issues and it influences public policy through education and advocacy the representatives for the League of Women Voters will be available in the lobby after this forum to meet with the candidates and the audience the League of Women Voters does not support or oppose any political party or any candidate so the views expressed in this forum will be those of the candidates and not those of the League of Women Voters the purpose in sponsoring meetings like this is to provide you the voters with an opportunity to hear the candidates discuss issues that are important to you there will not be enough time to cover all the issues tonight so if your question is not addressed please feel free to contact the candidates directly this event is being broadcast now live on community cable TV and it will be rebroadcast repeatedly in its entirety it will also be available by streaming video at the city's website and at lwv Emmy pH org individual recording and photography that does not disrupt the event is allowed tonight's questions will be submitted by our live audience you members of the audience and also online questions that are unclear or hostile or of a personal nature will not be used and those that fall in the same general subject category may be consolidated the question cards become the property of the League of Women Voters Emmy pH if the answer was unclear to you please feel free to submit a follow-up question or talk to the candidates after the forum I will now introduce you to the candidates for the Hopkins School Board the Hopkins school board election will fill four seats and we have seven candidates Steve Adams Shannon Andreessen Ben Carl's Tanya Kahn David Larsen Chris newcomer Katie O'Shea Peterson Thank You candidates and Thank You audience for coming tonight we will begin now with two minute opening statements and after that the candidates will have one minute to respond to each question submitted by the audience or online the order of responses will be rotated and the candidate forum will wrap up with one minute closing statements from each candidate the candidates answers will be timed by a member of the League of Women Voters candidates this member is sitting in the front row and she will hold up signs telling you how much time you have left for your answer she will hold up signs for one minute left 30 seconds left 15 seconds left and a sign that says you must stop and we ask that you obey the stop sign so let's start now with opening statements and to start with we'll go right down the order that you are seated in with two minute opening statements beginning with Steve Adams thank you I want to thank the League of Women Voters for organizing this forum I have attended their meetings and I know what a valuable resource they are for the voting public I also want to thank the voters here tonight and those watching on TV or on the Internet my name is Steve Adams and I've served on a Hopkins school board for the past eight years the last six is treasurer before being elected to the board I served on the city of Minnetonka Planning Commission for six years - as a vice chair I've lived in the Hopkins district for 35 years and I've been married to my wife Donna who's out here somewhere tonight for 40 years our two grown children Julia and Michael are Hopkins graduates and have successful careers in biotechnology in automotive engineering I graduated from Macalester College and was employed in sales and marketing with various IT companies for over thirty years starting at IBM I founded and operated my own IT services company in the Hopkins district for 10 of those years and in 2006 I heard a master's degree in business administration from the University of st. Thomas in the time that I've served on the Hopkins school board we've invested a number of strategic efforts to improve student learning we've extended our stem education curriculum into preschool we've added a world language in every elementary school we added the back wall in a national Baccalaureate curriculum for all junior high students we issued a digital device to every student in grades 1 through 12 we funded after-school tutoring for high school students and in 2017 we hired a spectacular new superintendent dr. Mary Perry Reid and last year we embarked on a strategic plan called vision 2031 to take our schools from great to world-class in last summer we added flexible learning spaces to all of our secondary schools thanks to the referendum our voters pass in 2017 I ask the voters to keep the momentum going by voting for me on November 5th Thank You Shannon and Rison thank you to the League of Women Voters for hosting and organizing this forum I'm heartened to see so many candidates here and I'm thankful that you two are showing up for Hopkins schools but I'm most excited to be in a room full of people who care deeply about our schools our students and our families our schools are the heart of our community they are where we gather learn and grow together and you get that that's why you're here I'm grateful to have the chance to tell you my hopkins story why I'm here and why I continue to show up for families my two sons access services across the educational landscape from special services to accelerated learning and their journey has been our family's journey into the warm and rich Hopkins community that started 12 years ago this district has supported our family as we've grown from Harley Hopkins to the high school and I'm always looking for ways to return that support for five years I've served on the district's legislative action coalition working closely with the school board and legislators for increased educational funding and laws that improve our schools I do this not only because I believe in public education but because I believe all students deserve a brilliant future I've spent my career as an advocate for special needs families using my skills in communications and program development to an enhance unheard voices build community relationships and leverage community connections for action for Minnesota families as a school board member I will continue to advocate for Hopkins schools and your family around mental health literacy accelerated learning equity and inclusion tonight I look forward to earning your vote on November 5th Ben Carl's good evening friends and fellow travelers Thank You League of Women Voters for allowing us to at this forum and thank you for coming tonight to hear us as we talk about our visions of how we can help make Hopkins schools move from great to world-class my educational journey is a leader and as a teacher begins in Hopkins as I started teaching at West junior high in the late 90s before moving on to the Accio School District where I'm currently a teacher leader and online learning coordinator starting in Hopkins helped me be idealistic and I was lower roughly I started but left an impact and when my family was looking to move into a district that could support my family who we are as two dads raising two children of color we liked Hopkins diversity we appealed or it appealed to us and we appreciate he strides towards equity that the district was already making when dr. Mary Puri Reid took over his superintendent and we saw the vision 2031 we were excited and I thought what could I do to give back to the community that I had been part of as a teacher now part of as a parent and as a resident of my small little scratch of Edina where I'm encouraging families to stay with Hopkins and not give in to the pressure to open and roll as parents of two children of color like I said diversity was important to us and so I look forward to where we can go with increasing opportunities for equity and innovation to prepare all of our scholars not just my own two children but all of our scholars and community members with communication towards 2031 and innovation into the future that we are giving them that's it Thank You Tanya Khan thank you to the League of Women Voters who decided to graciously hold this event and thank you to all of you audience members for coming tonight hi my name is Tanya Khan and I'm running for the Hopkins School Board when I walked into Ella Smith elementary ten years ago I was overjoyed to see every other child was a student of color everyone there was friendly and welcoming which was vastly different from my experience in elementary school when I grew when I lived in upstate New York I had the misfortune to suffer a lot of aggression at the hands of students and teachers in Hopkins however both my children and myself were embraced we have not experienced the adversity I had to go through as a child my daughter has since graduated from Hopkins and she's currently attending yellow Yale University in Chicago my son is a junior in Hopkins High School in regards to my education I have a degree in English literature from the University of Rochester in New York regarding my work experience I taught as a substitute teacher in the Hopkins Public Schools for over two years I went on to work at Hopkins high school as the media para specialist for over five and a half years outside of school I have served on the legislative action coalition where I worked with other members to help pass legislation pertaining to the betterment of Hopkins public schools I have actively a briefs or I've actively volunteered for resource west which helps families access programs and other resources they need recently I accepted an invitation to serve on the Hopkins community education Advisory Council out of love and a sincere desire to wholeheartedly give back to the district that has brought myself and my children nothing but happiness and acceptance I want to serve Hopkins schools I wish to see all Hopkins students thrive and flourish just as my children have I believe that vision 2030 one will be the revolutionary endeavor which will make our students critical and empathic thinkers undaunted by an increasingly shifting and diverse workforce please vote for me on November 5th thank you David Larson and I want to just say some of the same things that my coworker Steve Adams talked about the work we did on the school board III ran three and a half years ago this is my first term I'm seeking re-election I've been a resident of Minnetonka for about 44 years Carolyn I she's in the audience we have three grown daughters Tami Laura and Jennifer all graduates through Gatewood West junior high and high school in fact even the first daughter and was called Lindbergh back then my background I'll give you a snapshot of he just a short picture of Who I am I worked for had a career with control data and got laid off back after 26 years because control data then became Ceridian besides that I had them work in four metropolitan center for independent living which was a organization dealing with issues with the disability organizations my education the University of Minnesota also I graduated from the law school from the University I am a proponent of public education whether it's at the elementary high school secondary or university level let's see some of the community organizations I belong to the Bar Association currently I am on the Charter Commission for the city of Minnetonka I'm in Ward 4 here and as my parting words I'd like to thank the league also from Minnetonka Hopkins and Eden Prairie for hosting and planning this it's a lot of work I appreciate it thank you Chris newcomer Thank You League of Women Voters for sponsoring tonight's forum I believe your mission to encourage active participation in democracy makes this all better I am currently the vice chair of the haben school board I for some reason love policy and that's what the part of the vice chair does I also grew up in Golden Valley so I have been in this area for I'm not going to tell you how many years to me education is the key to so many opportunities in life and making sure our community provides quality education is per is exactly what we need to be doing for the next generation my experience is both in the corporate world and just having served on the Hopkins school board for eight years provide me with a broad understanding of Education and an expansive world view I can think of no better way to give back to the school district that has given my children so much than to continue serving on the school board our district isn't an exciting place with a vision of changing education for all if you look at a classroom from 1919 to 2 today they look the same but our world is so different schools never will never stop teaching reading math social studies the arts but since we do not have any idea what our current first graders will be doing upon graduation we need to focus on the broader skills of cultural literacy digital literacy learning to move and learning to move between working independently in collaborative as an elected board member it's imperative that we worked for all our parents and to make sure that we have concrete efforts to hear from as many voices as possible I will continue to make sure we are present in the community in a variety of settings I do believe that all parents love their children and want the best for them what we need to do is provide schools that work for each and every one of their children so they can have a brilliant future Thank You Katie O'Shea Peterson hi good evening thanks to the League of Women Voters for organizing this evening all of you guys for being here into my fellow candidates for their willingness to serve I'm Katie O'Shea Petersen the lucky mom to Hopkins elementary 2nd and 3rd grader I my husband and I have been avid consumers of the services put forth by the Hopkins School District through community ad and the elementary schools since both of our kids went through the stepping-stones program at Meadow Brook professionally I have a 19-year career in cyber security and high-tech it's that career that's given me the opportunity to see organizations attempt massive change and I've seen that done successfully and unsuccessfully it's my opinion that to do that successfully we need a clearly communicated vision consistency in our direction and our action and collaboration with all of the stakeholders I believe I can bring all of those things and determination to the table I've been inspired by dr. Mary Perry reads vision 2031 and in my campaign I'm focusing on finding ways to embrace that vision helping the board is going to be integral in helping create that framework I'm also focusing on evolving our classrooms our processes and the technologies to ensure that we're meeting Hopkins students where they're at and providing them all of the tools that they need to be successful finally I'm focused on continuing the 2018 and 2019 trend of increased enrollment at Hopkins public schools and ending the decades-long trend of Tricia in two neighboring districts pretty passionate about that one actually I'm inspired by the spirit of collaboration that the current school board shows I want to be a part of it and I believe that I'm well suited to help drive forward vision 2031 Thanks now we'll start with questions that have been submitted online and from the live audience and now we'll mix it up and so we won't just call on everybody in order if that's okay and so we'll start with the first question and we'll start with Katie O'Shea Peterson to answer this and you'll all get a chance to answer it these answers will now be for one minute here's the question what is your experience in school district leadership so can we start with you Katie O'Shea Petersons sure absolutely I am not afraid to admit that I'm probably not your typical typical pedigreed School Board candidate I don't have a lot of experience with serving in or participating in public education outside of being a consumer of the services and the art adventure coordinator for Meadow Brook elementary that said we are all about diversity and Hopkins Public Schools and I think that diversity has to expand to our school board and I know that the traits that I bring from my professional background and frankly kind of a tenacious personality make me well-suited regardless of perhaps the lack of that educational based experience thank you Steve Adams so that's that's one example and beyond that even before I was on the school board I was active in our our kids school Tanglin elementary attended many PTO meetings luckily never was chosen as a leader but was active in in the school there and continued to be one of the things we do as a school board members is get it we volunteered to be a liaison some her elementary schools and I've done that for Tanglin so I'm over there frequently and you know keeping tabs on what's going on so and other than that I am a licensed a substitute teacher for for the state of Minnesota I've done some substitute teaching in other districts Shannon in Driessen thank you I think that's a really important question because as we're going through these changes in the district it's important that we have strong consistent leaders that are taking us through this I've served on the LA sea for five years working with the school board to lobby for stable mental health funding alternative paths for teacher licensure eliminating the special education cross-subsidy Safe Schools and so much more that impacts our schools every day but on top of that I'm dedicated to increasing the resources for families in our community I used to serve as an executive director for a nonprofit that was essential in educating and empowering parents to connect and engage them in their home schools and communities so I know how important community is bringing that community into the school but also knowing that when students leave the building they need to have support and resources at their disposal Ben curls as an educational leader in the assi area schools currently my experience in school district leadership has been multiple has been in multiple ways including leaving equity foundational training for our entire district helping plan out how our entire system will make sure we are doing right by all of our students especially for our students of color and our students were LGBTQ some of the other work I've been involved in involved with has been the every student succeeds act and making sure that our schools are in compliance with that so all scholars are achieving the goals we set forward for them for graduation as well as moving my current district forward in innovation and in online learning which we are on the cutting edge for in the northern suburbs Tania Kahn could you repeat the question sure what is your experience in school district leadership regarding school district leadership I have worked actively in Hopkins schools I worked as a substitute teacher across the district and I've also worked at the media center at the high school as the media Paris specialist for over five and a half years outside of school I served on the legislative action coalition and I also have actively volunteered for resource west and recently I was invited to be part of the Hopkins community education Advisory Council David Larsen a teacher my business background is one that gave me skills in leadership one of the more fun things involved with experience with schools is Carol and I were chaperones at all the senior parties and those are lots of fun and we were able to control the group at least the ones that were under our control besides that I've had daughters that have been into gymnastics swimming variety of activities I am surrounded by teachers I have them all the way now and and kids in school they're in three different school districts they are ages from five years old to 22 from st. Thomas to the schools in Bloomington I have a rule they can only talk about education for five minutes whenever we have a family event they seem to you should get a timer there so that we could go on to other topics I love talking with them they're a great family thank you and 60 seconds is up Chris newcomer lack of control there's an that I have been on Hopkins School Board now for it would be eight years before that I chaired one of the referendums in 2013 worked at the high school for a little bit also was I spent six years on the Hopkins Education Foundation as it was growing and now it's entron into such an amazing organization that it's really critical to our schools and the innovation in our schools so that experience is very broad in my business life I right now I'm an executive director of a non-profit but my background is also in marketing and technology so coming together from both the education experience and the business world that's a worldview that we sometimes don't get on the school board so I bring both of those experiences together thank you thank you everyone here's the second question and we'll lead off with Chris newcomer for answers if you're an incumbent how have you actively engaged with the community over the past four years and if you are a new candidate how do you plan to actively engage with the community over the next four years let's start with Chris newcomer and this is one minute answers again I think the school board has done in the last few years a very good job of reaching out and being in the community I think engaging with the community also means showing up and showing up is not necessarily at a planned event it's at the school it's at the grocery store at the coffee shop I was at a caribou one time and overheard three high school kids talking about what they wanted the principal to know is they graduated and stepped over and had a really lovely conversation for about 45 minutes with them so what I've done is really to be there I have Glen Lake is my school that I have now as each member has taken on a school I have Glen Lake and I have West so learning to be there and showing up and talking to them is really important I had I spent some time at back-to-school night which I think we should all be at our schools for back to all night because you really got a chance to talk to parents when they were in and excited about being a part of that school so having planned events is important but also just showing up randomly at other events is also important Katie O'Shea Peterson you know while I was preparing for this evening I happened to watch the current school board members doing this two years ago and was inspired by hearing far tuned talked about her experience and our family's experience trying to navigate the school district with little to no experience and that really opened my eyes as somebody who grew up in the u.s. and with parents who understood how to navigate our system so I think first and foremost it's really important to ensure that everyone in our district is able to navigate and get the information and that it's provided to them in languages that they are able to consume I think that the breadth of how we communicate is key moving forward I also think that as Chris said getting out there and being present and socializing tends to be something for better or worse I do pretty well so I think showing up but also making it available all of our resources and communicating what we can do to everyone in our district Steve Adams oh gosh I've made calendar so full of things that I go to and attend but I chaired the Association metropolitan school districts for for a year that's an association of 44 school districts in the Twin Cities and found out how their you know their best practices and what they're doing but locally you know I was a member of the I chaired actually they imagine Minnetonka task force a couple of years ago I was on the 2040 comprehensive plan committee I chaired Empty Bowls won one year thanks to barb football games you know city leadership Rhoda and I met this morning or over noon with city managers and council people from the five of the districts that we represent that are represented in the in the district so I've had lots of opportunity to do leadership in the district shannon Andreessen thank you I think that it's important that we recognize ways in which the candidates have also been engaged if you're not an incumbent over the past five years I've been active on the LA sea being heavily engaged with the district and also I'm engaged as an active parent in my son's schools Alice Smith and the high school but beyond that I think that it's really important that you show up and you're present but you go beyond that and you follow through you listen in an active way to what the community has to say you absorb reflect and then activate around the issues that are most important to our families and you can't do that if you aren't there to listen so I will continue to do all of this work I last year I served on to vision 2030 one strategic focus teams and I will also continue to develop community services and programs that educate and empower families been carl's one of the ways I've been engaging in the three years we've lived in the district is reached out to my Edina neighbors to find out why are they open enrolling at Edina and what is the barrier that the green wall is providing both here and then also the people who open in rolling tomato why are they leaving to go to those districts when we offer a world-class educational experience with diverse learners and part of that is looking at what in the system is working for the kids that's working for and the families that's working for and also looking for where is it not working where are we not meeting the needs of our people of color in the community who feel disenfranchised or where school is a traumatic experience and we've committed that trauma and where it can we here that through authentic communication and listening Tonya Kahn of course I've worked in the school district for over seven and a half years so I been very active and the other things that I did while I was working at Hopkins schools was really connect with our students we've had some absolutely wonderful brilliant and very bright students go through our schools and they've been I've had really great relationships with all of them one of them I'd like to talk about his name was Lee and he was he was a wonderful student who invited me to do sensitivity training for our trans students and it was so wonderful to support him even though some people are saying oh you're not gonna be he paid and I said I don't care I want to be there for Lee and at the end he was so happy he gave me a big hug and he wrote me a note and gave me flowers so that was really really nice the other things that I've done in the district is go to our food trucks and speak to a lot of parents and that's been a great wonderful and learning experience thank you Dave Larsen I don't know if a lot of you know that a lot of the work of the school board is done in committees so that we can use our time very very wisely part of it Chris Ahrens this heads up the monitor community what are the major functions of a school board is to take count up the various policies to make sure we're on track Chris has done a fabulous job I on one of my committees I'm involved with was the special ed committee specialized Advisory Committee it's a group of parents it's one that you can see what their issues are and you're the liaison from the school board to the particular parent committee so there's a lot of ways that you can be involved that are not visible to the general public some of the other things that are involved with I said we were between Chris Steve and myself we were part of the group that was on the selection committee for the new superintendent that's also one of that's that one employee that we have that we are responsible for thank you here's the next question for all the candidates and we'll begin with David Larsen what would you do about declining enrollment in the school district and the loss of students through open enrollment we start with you Dave Larsen sure I when I was running moot before it and running again you know my priorities are student achievement basically it's also to support teachers so that the staff is good and also being responsible with taxpayers money you if you are running going from great to world-class you put that together that will have people wanting to have Hopkins School District be their destination and that is basically what rota is going for with vision 20:31 it's last year's kindergarten class as they graduate be twenty twenty thirty one already the kindergarten class coming up has increased 50 people over it's projection so you do good the enrollment will go up Chris newcomer one thing to remember with declining enrollment it also is demographic something we can't change because we can't make people have babies unfortunately but I think one of the ways I we're seeing that we're counteracting declining enrollment enrollment is we're changing the way we do school and whenever you change the way you do school which is very much a part of vision 2030 one people will take notice and once people take notice they start to listen and hear and they're starting to hear better things about Hopkins I think at that point it's sort of like messaging when you hear something seven times you sort of say maybe I should think about that I think the work that we've been doing and the press and the conversations we've been having have really allowed us to change people's minds about how we do school and I think we just need to keep improving how we do school Katie O'Shea Petersen so I have learned that approaching individual real estate agents and costing them about listing homes as able to be open and rolled is not scalable Steve knows this as well so beyond just that effort like I said kind of passionate about this one I do want to focus on the fact that enrollments increased in 2018 and 2019 and I'm gonna give a lot of props to the current school board and dr. Mary Puri Reid for their efforts and getting that trend to change I think that it's also about misperceptions about the Hopkins School District and a bit about narrow mindedness and the values of diversity and so I think that if we continue to show just what type of students we produce here at Hopkins and show the world and show our neighbors that we'll continue to see this 2018 and 2019 trends continue Steve Adams thank you actually we we do have open enrollment out we also have open enrollment in and in fact we have more in than we do out so you know it's a it's a myth that we're bleeding hemorrhaging students it's being it's being held very stable as Chris pointed out we can't do much about the birth rate you know that's something that's happening in the Hennepin County and it's a fact of life for all school districts but one of the things we can do to keep people to attract people is maintain our facilities and I've looked at our facilities compared to others and in other districts and we do a very good job of that and marketing we just have to do a better job marketing they think you know letting parents know what are the benefits of keeping their kids in the district you know what do we offer that other districts don't because we there are significant differences and just concentrate on that Shannon Andreessen thank you so I live in Minnetonka so I experienced this issue of students open and rolling to other districts firsthand on our street that we live on we are the only family that sends their student to happens Hopkins schools so I get that it is an issue but when I volunteered to call kindergarten families potential kindergarten families with our school of choice Alice Smith I was I heard over and over again from parents who had decided to their children to send their children to another school that they had never heard the stories I was sharing with them so they decided that and they told me that they would give Hopkins schools a second look they want to be connected they want their children to go to school with their neighbors but they need a reason to do so so we need to stop letting numbers tell the Hopkins story and start sharing with everyone we know the success stories that we see every day in our schools thank you then Carl's much like all the candidates here both the ones currently on the board and the ones seeking it for the first time it is that story about why we care about the district and it is that diversity of the district that's strengths that we draw from each other from the different parts of the communities that we all come from and I think that is the narrative that we are working on building that brand with the vision 2031 and with that communication of what we do in our schools and I think continuing that line people know about the value added nature of our district and the values behind every decision that's made how we keep our scholars in the first and foremost part of our mind in thinking of our vision not so much about property taxes or values of the community as structures but more as the people who make it is what they are Tania Khan regarding the declining enrollment I will try to increase family engagement by having a strong online presence there's a new thing that I've noticed on our Twitter and Facebook pages there is a gentleman named Alex Fisher and he is our Hopkins community education head he has had the most entertaining and most attractive tweets and Facebook posts regarding how amazing our district is so even if I was you know a stranger I would be like oh my gosh I have to attend this school and to send my kids there the second thing that I want to do is possibly conduct exit interviews with families who have left just to see what we could do to improve their experience and I also want to make sure that I listen and accommodate parents and staff thank you Thank You candidates that's here's another question that we'll start with Tanya Kahn for answers what do you see as the most pressing issues faced by the school district and how can community education help to address them what do you see as the most pressing issues faced by the school district and how can community education help to address them Tanya Cohen would you like to thank you so I think the most important thing is to make sure that our students are our students learn self-care and by actually actually our students should learn I'm sorry our teachers should learn to give the kind of care that students will react to in a positive manner I think we should encourage learner centered classrooms which will support multiple modalities and that's it thanks Dave Larsen have increased emphasis on the mental and physical health of our students to me the most important customer we have are the students so for me their primary the other issue is and it's always a question of money it requires good financial management that is a necessity the different formulas are difficult the general public to understand and it's there's a squeeze on it we've got to fund education more fully and then I am interested in that we make sure that we balance technology and the arts we should have things where activities the arts and athletics are blended in which stem decides the science technical engineering all the other issues it gets to be a balance so its curriculum balance thank you Chris newcomer well I'm sure we're gonna get another question about budgets and Finance so that is probably our most pressing issue but when you look at what the ability of community add to help some of the other issues we're facing particularly around the achievement gap I think the work that community has done in educating our youngest learners zero to five before they come into our schools to be really ready to do to be ready to be in a classroom sometimes for many years we got kids who had never been in a classroom till kindergarten and that's very hard when you have kids have gone to preschool and have not gone to any kind of school so by some of our programs are ready for K programs we're allowing kids to understand how to be in a classroom and and be part of a school in a community early enough that we can try to work through making sure that they really are functioning well and learning well right away in their schools so I think community education has a huge impact on our early learners it's a place where they should be doing their best work which I believe they do in Hopkins Katie O'Shea Peterson so I think that for me I I've you the biggest hurdle in our future is figuring out how to braid together fiscal responsibility with audacious goal setting I am hugely passionate about vision 2031 and incredibly realistic about the financial implications that change has on organizations and school districts in general I think that we need to be bold yet thoughtful and how we approach those changes so I think that's kind of the big one but I'll also say that the mental health of our students and the addition of the mental health centers thanks to additional funding and the half grant in particular I think is going a great start at addressing addressing the mental health issues that our students are experiencing it's never easy to be a kid but I don't know that it's ever been harder than it is to be a kid right now so those are kind of the two things that pops mind Steve Adams thank you I think finances are the most pressing issue even when you consider that 60% of our funding comes from the state it's a constant battle every year I chair the legislative action coalition and every year we spend time over at the state of Minnesota with legislators trying to educate them on what our needs are and it's not fair for us to pass the funding on to our taxpayers that is not covered by the state we've got a cross subsidy for special education in Minnesota that I think is one of the highest in the nation but it comes about because the state and the federal authorities do not fully fund special education as they promised they would when the Act was passed in 1984 so special education in the Hopkins school district is funded seven million dollars to fill that gap that's being left by the legislature in the feds other items of local control I could go into but my times up Shannon Andreessen thank you I think that some of the most pressing issues that are facing the Hopkins school district have to do with vigilant equity and breaking apart service silos and that's one of the wonderful ways that community education comes in they did a wonderful thing this summer where they blended their summer school options with their camp royal so in improving access for students who would normally be at summer school to get these enrichment and opportunities that are provided through community ed is really a wonderful way to address these issues community ed is also a really important place for students with special needs because they can pursue their special interests and really shine in that environment so making it more accessible would be breaking apart the service silos our students often experience in the district Bend Carl's in talking with teachers in the district as well as families in the district we know that mental health is a serious concern making sure our students and our teachers have the skills and the tools necessary to support them as they deal with social-emotional learning and school safety as well as equity and the feeling of safety at an emotional level when they come into our spaces and making sure that they feel valued seen and heard so those are the most pressing issues I see and I see community I'd been a great partner to work with both younger families helping them develop those social-emotional skills as they prepare for school as well as providing support for the community as they navigate some of those thorny and uncomfortable conversations about racial equity and LGBT equity there's a number of questions about racial equity and racial disparities and so with the league's permission I'd like to make a two minute answer for this question what should the district do to address equity and racial disparities in the school district I'm sorry what should the school board do to address racial equity and racial disparities in the school district and been carl's could we start with you now so timer these will be two minute answers because I think if the topic can't could be covered in a minute so would you like to take a crack at it first I certainly will take a crack at it thank you well some of the work the school board can do as the system-wide leaders is making sure that we are providing equity training for all of our teachers and providing opportunities for our scholars to lead the way and we are doing some of that North junior high for instance has a class that is working with that and it's really awesome to see that happening in our district but specifically we need to make sure that we as a school board would be the leaders of that that we are pushing forward proposals and training and development and funding it in a way that is can concurrent with our values of equity and making sure we are closing those gaps looking for opportunities where we can close that opportunity gap that some of our families don't have with the district as large as ours and with its vast economic opportunities we need to look at the opportunity gap provided by that where some of our families have no problem experiencing museums vacations trips but how do we provide that for our families that don't have that and there are ways we can do that that are financially responsible while also addressing the equitable concerns providing teachers the support necessary for equitable teaching such as providing workshop days that are paid for them to work and unpack their own work and what they do in the classroom both curricular wise as was their spaces and the emotional spaces they've created and their own training with their own awareness of how their whiteness in the most part and the whiteness of our system impacts all of our learners on a daily basis Tonia Kahn the main thing I was thinking about regarding our racial equity is that barriers need to be broken via bias training I think it's really important for teachers to speak to people of color and get part of it become part of programs where they will understand another person's experience the other thing that I was thinking of is that we have a lot of diverse students in our district and putting them in a position where they could speak to teachers and tell their story would be another thing I think that would help teachers understand I think Dave Larsen the staff where if they need any kinds of resources to enlarge the whole diversity because Hopkins now is about 46% diagonally diverse I've been in the community now for over forty four years when I first started we specifically picked the Hopkins school district to live in I can see that we have made progress but basically it's the functions of the school board to make sure we support the staff administration the superintendent and going to make sure that we outreach to the various what you call sometimes people's sourcing to make sure you get to the other groups make sure that we sometimes have maybe internships with student teaching where they have an opportunity where we give opportunity to diversity and by the diversity and I know I mean it's more than just black and white it's got to do it religious diversity sexual orientation diversity it is we are a human mosaic and you have to be sure that we support that not only in what we do while we fund and that's one of the functions of a scored we do handles the purse strings and I think that the board current board we are really very much aware of the diversity that we want to bring because it's it's is it's an experience that everybody will benefit by it Chris newcomer one of the most audacious goals I think of vision 2031 is to eliminate racial predictability on standardized tests which is a huge goal and I think for us to get there as a district we need to really start be thinking about just what Ben said allowing our teachers to unpack what's happening in their lives and their worldviews and other people's worldviews so we can work together collectively to make sure that what your race is does not predict your future and so I think those school boards philosophy and way we should be working about it is the fact that a very smart school board member who's not running for re-election challenge just to think about our budget as a moral document and I think once we start to think about our budget which is really one of the only couple things we control as a school board which is policy budget and hiring and firing the superintendent we need to really think about where we are spending our money if racial equity and and solving racial disparities is really important so it starts with us at the school board of taking a staff back and saying what's really important to us and are we really walking our talk with the where where we're spending our money because then if we are and if we really believe that a lemony eliminating racial predictability and test scores is a an audacious goal we should solve then that's what we need to be doing Katie O'Shea Peterson that is a heavy question and candidly I feel the weight of that question and have pondered my response to that question quite a bit as a graduate of Minnetonka high school and st. Olaf College to say that I am a product of white privilege would be an understatement and it's something unpacking those racial biases that we carry with us unconsciously and without mount malicious intentions is something that we all have to think about and I think that the Hopkins School Board and the Hopkins School District has started those efforts from what I've seen and I think that one of the things that I've seen and heard so far is their efforts to ensure racial equity with the teachers and educators and the administrators that our students see every single day in putting those teachers of color in front of our kids male teachers in front of our kids and showing them you know that they can be and do anything they want to as easy as that is to say and as difficult as that is to achieve is is truly critical to our role as a board and not something that I take lightly Steve Adams this is just not a school problem and that there was an article in the Star Tribune last week of September 6th that kind of pointed out to me that you know it's a shared responsibility with the rest of our society Minnesota has some of the deepest racial disparities in the nation whether you're talking about housing whether you're talking about income employment it's across the board and I don't think it's fair to expect schools to fix all of that but we reflect is what's happening in our society unfortunately we see a decline in affordable housing in our district and I've talked to city managers and mayor's to try and promote more affordable housing in our district there's there's a guy that I go to here every year that I go to the NSBA the National School Board Association conference his name is William parrot he teaches at Boise State University and he he studies the effects of family income on achievement and there's a direct correlation it's just amazing and I first noticed when I was looking at essay details believe it or not I think six years ago and I was looking for correlations who scored well on the SAT you know and why you know and was it Family Education was it the kids color well it turned out family income had a direct correlation for every additional five thousand dollars in family income the test scores went up about five points so that really alerted me to the fact that it's an income issue we do what we can in the district I just talked to a guy it's a paraprofessional of a high school today l Nunez L is conducting a class essentially for black male students called invictus to try and address the lack of achievement among that girl Shannon Andreessen thank you this is an important question and so much so that on one of the vision 2030 one strategic teams that I was a part of was was vigilant equity in authentic inclusion I feel that it is really important that as a school board we keep those two values as something that we examine every time that we make a decision whether it be budget or policy that we come to the table with that lens and try and see to the best of our ability how we can make changes that will benefit all students one of the things that I do when I serve on the L AC is use a msds reimagine Minnesota tenants there are nine of them to address the opportunity gap that we have in Minnesota I use that to draft position statements when we're writing our platform which we do we we meet weekly to do that and those those tenants go across the board but one of the most important is that students need to see themselves reflected in teachers and staff and administration in the schools so addressing that issue is something that we can start doing immediately and Hopkins already has another important part is that this is like Steve said not just a school issue this is about disrupting a system and to do that it takes all of us so we need to examine the ways in which we perpetuate the system ourselves but we also need to start breaking apart the things that divide our children within the schools and bringing them together thank you the next question deals with school start times and we'll start with Shannon and Driessen so we'll go back to one minute answers if that's okay yes should the school board consider any changes in school start times at the elementary middle or high school level which I said again should the school board consider any changes in school start times at the elementary middle or high school level yeah I think that that's a really important question we all know the research we've all seen it that teens in particular need a lot of sleep and they do best when they arrive at school later they learn more and are more productive should the school board consider it absolutely based on that research but they also need to consider that this isn't just about research it's about the community and what does the community need and so I think that we need to engage in conversations with parents with staff and to see will this be beneficial for the family not just for the student but I definitely would support those conversations happy happening and hope to actually have them with you Ben cows definitely I think we need to look at school start times as a teacher I definitely get that feeling starting at 7 o'clock in the morning with high school students and the difficulty they have waking up and coming prepared to learn especially at the level of their learning meanwhile while my three a half year old is up at 5:30 in the morning ready to go so definitely it's a conversation to have and it's also a conversation to look at if we are not able to change our start times to be more flexible where can we flex time with our scholars where can we look at innovation in terms of how learning takes place where where can we differentiate paths place and product and so that the learning isn't always the traditional brick and mortar schoolhouse that we grew up with but where the class of twenty thirty one and Beyond is going to be experienced in their learning to add that flexibility Tania Khan so my daughter had trouble of waking up in the morning because of all the homework she had as a teenager at the high school and for a lot of students it can be a struggle at the high school level to wake up early because they have multiple activities such as you know hockey or any sports or debate or what-have-you so I think that definitely needs to be addressed and just regarding the younger students every student is different but like Ben was saying they really do the younger ones have a tendency to wake up earlier and and and it really messes up not only the child of the child's times but also the parents and I think it's really important to focus on improving that our Dave Larsen it depends you know you can satisfy some people some of the time you can set some people all of the time and there are some times you can never satisfy him at all this is not a real easy issue it depends on what kind of skin you have in the game where are your kids at it what are the work schedules for the parents then you have transportation issues if there are money issues when I was on the special ed committee to have a we were talking about transportation to put another bus line you're talking about $65,000 I think I'm gonna delegate this problem to wrote our superintendent this is he is brilliant the answer still is it depends we are not going to please everybody I don't want to be negative but that's a reality of it thank you Chris then goes through your people at home to a watching okay Chris newcomer one of the higher level questions we need to start asking ourselves and been alluded to it is does learning always have to take place in school and if we change that paradigm where do school start times belong I understand it's an issue and as a former school or as a current school I remember we've addressed it we've had conversations it's a balance for us it's a balance between the money we get from the state to fund this the start times parents needs and student needs and it is a delicate balance to find those one solution which I know won't fly is that we just put our kindergartners and our twelfth graders on the same bus and they all start at the same time tell parents that of a kindergartner or an 11th grader that's not you know so it isn't it's a nuanced issue it's something yes we should be talking about on a regular basis but the solution is not just changing start times because there's so many sort of waterfall effects about athletics and after school and daycare and who wants to put their sixth grade year old or five year old on a bus at 6:45 in the morning Katie O'Shea Peters [Laughter] tip of the hat been six my eight-year-old was up at six o'clock this morning and he didn't go to school till 9:30 so personally I think it would be great that said and the research supports it which I think you know is key as well but one of the other things that I think is really important to consider is this isn't a debate or a discussion that's unique to Hopkins neighboring districts have made this change and neighboring districts know where the land mines lie and so their experience is something that we as Hopkins can draw off of and I think that that's a really important thing to note I also you know believe that we need to take into consideration all the stakeholders as I mentioned before and as Dave mentioned it's transportation it's extracurriculars it's the teachers it's the community members so all the stakeholders yes - my eight-year-old on a bus at 6:45 and let's see how it worked for Dinah and why is that and you know our neighboring members Steve Adams well I'd say definitely yes we need to change the start times you know you Dinah did it about twenty years ago ten years ago something like that why is that I did it I think last year st. Louis Park is going to do it starting next school year so there are proven models but to me the research really tells the story I've actually I've read the study by the Minnesota sleep Institute believe it or not that tells how student achievement increases with a later start time for secondary students so I'm in favor of it what the public needs to understand is it's going to cost you some money because it's all the transportation problem we've looked at this I think two or three times in my tenure on the board and it usually ends up reflecting about another half a million dollars a year in transportation costs and the state's not going to give it to us so it's got to come out of the local taxpayers so but I definitely think we we do what's responsible for our student the next question we'll start with Steve Adams and here is the question what challenges does the district have with busing long distances well we're kind of unique as a district we've got if anyone's seen a map of the district and a lot of people wonder why - does it look like that because it's a result of a merger of about 10 different school districts since about 1950 so we've got this oddly configured school district and we got to run bus routes through it and that really is is the reason we've got a higher transportation costs and some of the other districts because it's a very circuitous route so you know I there's nothing we can do about that the district is going to stay in the same size the same shape that it's been for years so but we have done I think the first year I was on the was on the board we reduced transportation costs by $600,000 in that first year in the way we did it was by reducing the number of stops because every stop cost you money and we had a lot of unhappy parents as a result but we got our we've met our budget shannon Andreessen thank you I believe I need to defer to Steve on this one knowing what the challenges to bussing are for the district but I am fully aware of the size and shape and breadth of this district and I can imagine that it is quite an achievement to get kids to school on time we can see how quickly that can fall apart when there's bad weather so it just is a good example of showing just how difficult it is to navigate the system and district but so far I think we're doing pretty well been Carl's I get this on a personal local and immediate level because like I said I'm in a little scratch to be dying off 169 that my daughter is like wanted like she's the last one the bus and she's on her own for about three minutes based on the tracker and especially doing with some of the late buses we've been having this school year so I get the challenges that we have with our district being shaped oddly and with our distance between the schools but I go back to the intentional focus of shifting the attendance boundary lines to be equitable and making sure that our scholars are more reflective in all the schools and not just in certain schools so I think if we are leaving with that value of equity and making sure our scholars have the best experience they have that trumps a longer bus route Tania Khan so there are multiple challenges regarding busing long distances like Shannon and Steve said our district has you know arms in Golden Valley Minnetonka st. Louis Park and I think parts of Eden Prairie and so we have a lot of I have most the most experience at the high school level so there are a lot of students who have those after school programs they have the before the school programs we have HTC we have MCTC so you know to accommodate we actually did an excellent coordinator or maybe more than one coordinator also on the elementary level this kids have a lot of before school programs and after-school programs so it is a complex question and I think actually our superintendent rota will be an excellent person to handle that hmm Dave Larsen I think a lot of you know we have seven different cities that we're dealing with sure it's all of Hopkins at southern Minnetonka Plymouth's say Louis Park Golden Valley did I skip anybody yeah a little slow everybody diana is there so you've got to make accommodations when you have that width of territory we have some I think we just got a new software package that helps the transportation and how you it's like dominoes that you did make sure that the buses you're gonna have to pick them up somehow and in my viewpoint safety of the students is its primary issue and so Steve brought it up it's going to cost money so basically it is an issue we are aware of we try to do the best and I guess like that's the best you can do you can try to accommodate there's many groups or parts of the city as you can and then after that deal on an individual basis if something has to be worked out Chris newcomer I think there's a change and a shift in how we're approaching problems in the Hopkins district for many years there are a lot of silos that exist in education a lot of companies and areas but what we're trying to do is move from a siloed thinking approach to a systems thinking approach where the entire system is looked at as a whole and I think as we start to do that both in a lot of our education programs a lot of our teacher trainings we're also looking at that in transportation and anytime you can go from thinking of silos to systems you really can start to solve some of those complex issues like how do we deal with busing kids long distance how do we deal with start times all of those become things that the whole can think of within a systems versus a silo so I think that's the way we're going to hopefully help deal with some of these transportation issues but also deal with a lot of the other things that our district is going to be talking about and trying to do in the near future Katie O'Shea Peterson due to my professional life and cybersecurity I have a lot of experience with saying I don't know the answer to that question but I know somebody who does and in general I don't know that the school board is the team of people that you want addressing that question directly but I know that Hopkins has addressed it through dr. Mary Puri reads letters to the community very graciously and humbly so I believe that we've addressed the issues fairly well and I have no doubt that either a task force or people who are far more equipped than probably any of us up here are are working on the problems that the size and the distance that our district poses that they're working on those problems so thank you so we're getting close to the end and we don't have quite enough time to go through another seven-minute question so would you candidates be willing to answer this question in one sentence you know not to run on and the timer does not have to time this and we'll start with Katie O'Shea Peterson and so that so try answering this in one sentence the superintendent has talked about turning the high school into an International Baccalaureate school extending that program from the middle schools what do you think about that in one sentence I believe we have hired a rockstar superintendent and am fully committed to exploring the majority of her ideas Steve Adams I think there's a lot of good things about IB but I'm not sure it could coexist with our advanced placement classes at the high school I'd have to get input from teachers Shannon and riesen I think that IB is a really exciting option but it also poses challenges so again I would defer to those educators in particular the ones in the middle school that have already implemented an IB program then Karl's coming from a system that has both IB and AP and autonomous learner programs and online learning programs in the same building it can totally be done and I support 100% Tania Khan so I've heard really good things about IB schools they're actually internationally recognized and the good thing about them is that they make students think creatively that's it David Larsen Chris newcomer I think IB allows us to have a learning framework that we've been missing in our schools and so if that can bring a continuity from our seventh grade to our 12th grade I would be very interested in looking at it Thank You candidates for being willing to be so brief can we try one more round of this with another question so this is about vision 2031 list can you try to answer this in one sentence what is one specific thing you would do as a board member to support vision 21 vision 2031 pardon me and can we start with Kris newcomer or it can be one general thing if specific is two I think the way that we as the school board can support vision 2031 is to give our soup the bandwidth and the ability to make changes without having to have everything figured out yeah at the front Katie O'Shea Peterson I can do it when one word listen Steve Adams find funding for all of the different options that are outlined in 2031 Shannon Andreessen I got distracted by everyone else's answer I think the most important thing that we can do for vision 2031 is talk to people about it Ben carl's I would say we leverage our most important asset which is our teachers and the direct instruction to make sure it's quality which is the most direct impact on our scholars Tania Khan I think to support vision 2031 we need to increase communication especially amongst parents students and staff because we need to all work together to make this come to fruition Dave Larsen elected and I mean that seriously because I think the 2031 is a brilliant idea and we are so fortunate to have rode up Mary Perry as our superintendent the best thing I've done in the last three years candidates I really appreciate your willingness to try to answer really briefly so that we could get more questions and we have many more questions but we have no more time to answer them so now let's go to your closing remarks for a minute each and can we start with Steve Adams and just go right down the line as you're seated okay so Steve Adams your closing remarks right thank you well I want again thank the audience for participating tonight those viewing at home for providing questions and the League of Women Voters for sponsoring this you do a great job I'm asking voters to reelect me on the school board for a third term November 5th I believe I've been effective in helping form consensus on the board and applying my background of business and information technology and making some strategic investments that have generated gains in student learning parents satisfaction and enrollment well we've made great strides and created an optimum learning environment environment for our students I think we can do more and tonight we've discussed some of those options like moving the start time back for for secondary schools providing out of school learning experiences for our students and all the other innovative practices that are outlined in the vision 2030 one that couldn't further increase learning opportunities for our children so I would ask the public to help keep the momentum going by electing me Steve Adams on November 5th Shannon Andreessen so thank you for a terrific conversation tonight for showing up and thank you to the League of Women Voters for hosting this event and giving me the opportunity to hear all of your questions and concerns about the district I want to continue this community building as I visit with you on the campaign trail so show up to events I'll be at your door and hopefully at your school so we can continue to talk and I welcome your increased feedback so that I can earn your vote on November 5th last year I served on to vision 2030 one strategic teams and it was that work that inspired me to run for the Hopkins school board so I realized through that work that parent voice needs to be strongly represented on the school board as we move forward but also that that perspective needs to include all of our students so I thank you for sharing your time with me and your questions I look forward to serving you as a member of the Hopkins school board and I ask for your vote on November 5th thank you then curls Thank You League of Women Voters Thank You audience for coming out and having this opportunity to share ideas and meet each other I think regardless of who you end up voting for I feel confident that our school board will be fantastic so that's a really a wonderful place to be in as a resident and as a parent in the building our sorry in the building in the district as an educational leader my strengths lie in strategic planning and equity I'm an accomplice and equity work and a parent of two small children who are just starting their process in the Hopkins schools so I'm in it for the long haul and I'm looking forward to being part of the change and making our district go from great to world-class I look forward to your vote on November 5th Tonia Khan thank you again to the audience members and thank you to the League of Women Voters for hosting so my strengths really lie in communication and I think I have the sensitivity and the creativity to really increase communication amongst parents staff and students especially since I've worked in the district and I think because I was on the inside I think I understood a lot of things better than someone on the outside would and I know what possibly needs improvement and I'm a team player who likes to put others needs first thank you David Larsen well first I'd like to thank our timekeeper sandy Brandt I'd like to thank our moderator and all of the people that helped both of you to get to where we are with that said my top priority still is the students the student achievement every child deserves a brilliant future after that fiscal responsibility is a necessary thing that has to be accounted for and then my last item support for the teachers staff administration in their work environment for all they do is essential it you need that interaction with students and the teachers thank you for hosting this it's been a pleasure to be here please vote if you don't vote for me please vote for it please vote November 5th you got four chances to vote Kris newcomer of the district I have worked in run boards and I believe the best boards bring a lot of different views together and I think with all of these candidates there are so many great ways of looking at problems that the Hopkins School District would be well-served we all need to bring our own skills to our school board seat and the ones that I ring are asking questions I think that's very imperative for a board to be doing also to provide strategic thinking about how we might do things different or as the question we asked two years ago when we launched business vision 31 how might we and the last one is to really start to view changing the change in the work we're doing so you're both in equity and an innovation lens and those two things combined will move us forward so I look forward to talking with you at the coffee shop the grocery store at school and serving another four years on the Hopkins school board Katie O'Shea Peterson thanks again to the League of Women Voters for putting this together tonight all of you for being here and in particular my fellow candidates you guys made this look easy newsflash it's not easy so I'm not naive enough to think that when you guys go to the polls on November 5th that you're going to remember much of what I said tonight and so when I thought about my closing statements what I really wanted to get across was generally when you're voting for Katie O'Shea Peterson that you're voting for a passionate supporter of Hopkins public schools that you're voting for a woman with a strong professional background of negotiating collaborating and creative problem-solving in general I think that as other candidates have said there's not a bad choice up here so I would be humbled and honor to earn your vote on invoice cracky to earn your vote on November 5th Thanks Thank You candidates Thank You League of Women Voters Minnetonka Eden Prairie Hopkins and thank you they ought to the audience and to everyone who views this forum on cable and video the forum will be broadcast until the election and you can watch it also on lwv Emmy pH org and there will be a link there to the streaming video this concludes the formal event this room will be closed at 8:30 but you are welcome to meet the candidates informally in the lobby remember everyone to vote on or before November 5th let's give the candidates a hand [Applause] you [Applause] you